Let's talk about stress prevention, a good working climate as one where stress is largely prevented. While we cannot in all likelihood eliminate all stress, much of it could be prevented. In this section we introduce a critically important framework called cost that you can use both to prevent stress and reduce the risk when stress has occurred. A key aim here is to build an atmosphere and team environment which stigmatizes stress. Stress is simply a reaction people have to excessive pressures or demands. We all have excessive pressures or demands sometimes so such a stigma is pointless and damaging.
Unless people feel able to be open about what is causing them stress, you'll find it difficult to make headway in tackling it in any meaningful Way, the cusp framework This is a very simple framework that works equally as well in terms of prevention of stress as it does in helping someone who is not coping. In other words, you can use costs proactively and reactively. Here we will be mainly looking at using cost proactively to prevent stress. This framework can be applied to any situation where pressure is present. What it does is get you thinking about your options in a structured way. There are always options because the experience of stress as individual and depends largely on perceptions.
If you can change or influence someone's perceptions, the way they think about a situation then the stress can be prevented or reduced. CUSP stands for control uncertainty support pressure. The four elements will now be explained in further depth control we have known about the links between stress and control for many years now. Indeed, psychologists have based whole models of stress around the concept of control. If we feel that we don't have any control in our working environment, this can be very stressful, especially when combined with high pressures or demands. Indeed, high demands and low control can accurately be described as a perfect recipe for stress.
If we also feel unsupported at the same time, this recipe is even more of a risk. We have to be careful when considering this. We are dealing with subjective perceptions with the way people see things and feel about things not just with objective reality. There are major implications here because as managers we can influence both perceptions of control and Unable actual control. Thus we have the capacity to influence stress levels positively or negatively. In fact, the negative side of this is worrying.
It suggests that if we are ignorant of the importance of control or do or say things that lessen perceptions of control, then we may be damaging people. We may inadvertently be causing them severe stress and increasing the risk of depression. We may also be causing damage to their immune system, increasing the risk of colds and flu and in the long term of cancer and heart disease. See the next few slides for some tips on enabling control for your employees. Uncertainty feelings of uncertainty are also strongly associated with stress. In recent years, our working environments and cultures have changed markedly into ones Where there is a lot of uncertainty.
This is one reason for increases in stress levels across all sectors. The pace of change has increased and is still increasing none more so than in our workplaces. High uncertainty is associated with feelings of insecurity and anxiety causing us to feel stressed. In periods of rapid organizational change, feelings of uncertainty increase and control decreases a double whammy in terms of stress. This makes organizational change a high risk factor for stress related injury and illness. The most important factor in minimizing maximizing the risk is communication.
See the next few slides for ideas on uncertainty reducers Support probably the most robust result in all of social psychology is that support acts as a buffer against stress. What this means is that if we have the right kind of support, we can cope with more pressures or demands without suffering from stress. Put another way, the more pressure there is, the more important support becomes. Research appears to show also that in terms of our social networks, if we have good supportive networks at work and away from work, such support actually boosts our well being whether or not we're under pressure. As managers you are in a unique position where support is concerned because you can provide both social and practical support to your people. However, you must be careful not to make assumptions about what support people need.
If we offer people the wrong kind of support or offer it in the wrong way, we can end up causing stress rather than preventing or reducing it. As you work through the actions discussed on this course, you will get some useful tips to help you support people appropriately and effectively. Pressure if you can identify then tackle the specific sources of pressure stressors in your team's working environment, you reduce substantially the potential for stress related illness amongst your staff team. No two working environments are the same. So all are likely to have their own specific stressors apart from the more general organizational sources of pressure. It is important to acknowledge that there will be sources of pressure outside of your and your team members control.
In terms of minimizing stress risk, it is important to identify and target Get What You do have some influence over. There overlaps with the different parts of CUSP but this part of the framework is about thinking about what specifically could cause stress in your area and what you could do to address those potential causes. Control enablers as the first part of the framework, enabling control is not about abdicating responsibility. It is not about adopting an anything goes mentality. You are a manager, you still have to take tough decisions and still have to manage poor performance. Here are the enablers with a description.
Firstly, let's explore delegation. In stress terms. delegation is a critical management skill because it enables control. It says I trust you to get this done without me always looking over your shoulder. Good delegation will also So reduce the pressure on you as you won't have to micromanage. Ask yourself and encourage others to ask you difficult questions about letting go of control.
So enabling control as about encouraging people to take responsibility for their own performance while being clear about what is expected of them. Enabling control is not easy for many managers. It may make you feel very uncomfortable and vulnerable to start with but stick with it and it will pay great dividends. Secondly, enable control over the physical environment. This could include any aspect of the look of the office the use of plants make workstations more attractive, and so on. This can have several benefits in addition to boosting perceptions of control including more relaxed surroundings improved mood better air quality eg through use of plants improve Overall working environment.
New environment may contain anchors to positive emotions and attitudes next, offer as much flexibility as you can over working arrangements. If employees can make choices that reflect their needs or lifestyle This will reduce the risk in various ways. These are a few ideas reduces stress risk attached to non work pressures, addresses commuting, stressors enhance sense of control also communication as important. be appreciative of your team. Taking people for granted undermines their sense of control. encourage people to be assertive with you not passive, not aggressive and be prepared to accept constructive criticism of you and your management style.
Bullying, aggressive styles of management take control away from people. It makes them fearful and causes them severe stress with very negative consequences for their health and well being Finally, watch your style of communication, the opposite of enabling control as an aggressive style of management. If you receive any feedback that you are perceived as aggressive, take that feedback seriously and try sensitively to find out what has led to that perception. talk it over with a mentor or someone in human resources, you may need to consider some additional training or one to one coaching to improve your interpersonal skills. Again, try not to regard such perceptions as a personal attack. Rather, they are an opportunity to change your style and become a better manager.
View it as an opportunity to adapt your style to suit each individual. If people see that you respond well to assertive communication and to constructive criticism, they will feel as If they have more control, you will also stand a better chance of finding out how you cause them stress. The more you know about how they feel, the less the risk because you can respond more quickly thus reducing the risk of stress related illness. Next, involve people in decision making both at the individual level and at the team level. As a rule, give as much control to your team members over decisions as you possibly can. And if you cannot involve people in the decision making process explained clearly and unambiguously why that is the case because that will reduce uncertainty.
Don't forget to explain the decisions you have taken a positive way of preventing stress as by consulting and involving people on decisions about workload. People often feel that they are overloaded because of the perception that It is not within their control. In fact, if people feel they have some control, they generally work harder achieve more and are more satisfied with the outcome. Next, encourage employees to develop their own micro routines which work for them eg taking short breaks every 45 minutes and a longer break every 90 minutes. breaks are important, especially if people are under pressure. We all need recovery time to manage stress effectively.
So encourage people to take control over this important aspect of their working life. People rarely abuse this. On the contrary, they value being trusted in this way while manager controlled breaks can be resented and a cause of dissatisfaction next change will inevitably have an impact on perceptions of control. So take care to assess any risks to your team associated with the change and take special care to communicate clearly about what is happening as often as possible. And here are a couple of small points which are still valid and worth consideration. How do you give feedback?
People need to know how they are doing and what do you think? If you don't tell them they will make assumptions and those assumptions may not be positive, causing them stress. So give constructive feedback. This reduces uncertainty and reduces the risk of stress. And how often do you use email over face to face communication? email as a vastly overrated form of human communication.
None of us can probably avoid using it. But don't be a lazy manager. Go and speak to people whenever you can. And if you can't pick up a phone, use email less speak to people more. Now let's move on to the U part of costs. uncertainty reducers.
As uncertainty increases, so do feelings of anxiety and insecurity. This increases the risk of stress. approaches that reduce uncertainty and ambiguity reduce the risk substantially. Many of these approaches involve communication and decision making. Reducing uncertainty is particularly important in times of organizational change when the risk of stress is high. It sounds simple, but you must communicate.
Especially during times of organizational change, effective communication is vital to manage the risk of stress. In risk assessment terms change is a hazard that has the potential to cause very real and lasting harm. The risk is high. Without effective communication, people fill in the gaps usually with nightmare scenarios. This leads to them ruminating constantly about what might happen putting them in chronic fight flight stress This can be very damaging to mental and or physical health. Bear in mind that in change situations you are the main information resource, sometimes the only reliable source in stress terms what is known as always better than what is unknown.
Even when the news is bad real eventualities can be planned for an alternative strategies generated. This not only reduces uncertainty but also increases a sense of control. Secondly, be open, approachable and welcoming with your team. If employees perceive you in this way, they are much more likely to share their worst fears with you. If you don't know what these fears are, it will be very difficult to address and challenge those fears. In addition, the more they know you as a Human Being warts and all, the better you will know them.
So give of yourself invest in relationships. In terms of stress prevention, it's the best investment you can make. Next, avoid being secretive. You may not think that you are secretive, rather that you are protecting your employees, for example, what they don't know they won't worry about. Unfortunately, if you are perceived as secretive, this may cause stress because employees may develop nightmare scenarios or believe you are deliberately withholding information from them. protecting people in this way usually backfires horribly.
Next, be clear about roles, tasks and priorities. uncertainty and ambiguity about your role can be a major stressor. This is especially the case if you aren't sure what the role really is or who you're answerable to. clarifying these issues reduces role ambiguity, potentially a major stressor. also working with your team on clarifying what the priorities are, and what's really important can help by reducing stress associated with role conflict. role conflict occurs when people feel they have conflicting demands and priorities.
Again, it is clear that good communication as a critically important factor in minimizing the uncertainty associated with these roles stressors. Next, don't assume people will know why assumptions that staff will work out why something has been done in a particular way are very dangerous. It may be obvious to you It probably won't be to them. Never make assumptions about what people know. For example, you could use process checks. Here you check out clarify where people are and if they are with you, I understand what to do and what do you want.
Make sure you give time for this to happen so that people have the same understanding that you have. Use the process check as an opportunity to ask questions. Ask whether you're going too fast or too slow. Also, be careful about behaviors that may be ambiguous. If team members interpret your behavior as confusing in any way, the risk of stress increases. In addition, your behavior may be interpreted as aggressive.
If that is the case, you are less likely to find out if people are not coping because they will be afraid of the consequences if they raise their fears. Finally, give as much clear information as possible. If you can make sure information comes directly from you in person. share information in a timely manner, especially if the information is related to changes that will affect your staff. think very carefully about withholding information. Is it really necessary to withhold?
Are you withholding information because of negative assumptions that may not be correct. Of course, some information must remain confidential. But if information cannot be shared, don't keep quiet make sure that people understand why. As with the other elements of customer support as important from a proactive and reactive point of view, people may not necessarily use support structures, but the fact that they are there and people know that they are there quite simply helps from a stress point of view. Likewise, if your team members feel supported by you and perceive you as being supportive It doesn't necessarily mean they will always come to you for support. The important thing is that they feel supported.
The key way to support is to ensure your employees know they can talk with you. avoid being so booked up with meetings and other appointments that you are never available to them. being available for one to one conversations as essential as is the ability to listen. If employees want to talk about things, listening to what they have to say is key to providing support. In fact, it may be more important than helping them practically avoid blame. Everyone makes mistakes.
If anything goes wrong, look first to remedy any problems and then for learning points. Don't look to allocate blame. This does not mean avoiding managing poor performance. If one member of your team is performing poorly that will be stressful for the rest of the team, so the poor performer must be helped to improve their performance. finally have a policy in place to help those feeling stressed. It is up to the employee to tell you when things are not going well, but you can take steps to prevent or many stressors This will help.
If your organization has an employee assistance program or other Counseling Service, make sure your employees know how to access it and what support it provides. Let's look at prevention now. In seeking to prevent stress, the aim is not to reduce pressure for the sake of it. the right amount of pressure can be motivating and good for both health and performance. However, excessive pressure or demands will cause stress, especially when the pressure is unremitting or chronic. In today's workplace, the risk of stress comes mainly from overload or too much pressure.
But you should also bear in mind that a lack of challenge or too little pressure under load as it is sometimes called may also cause stress related problems. The following points give common sense general ideas on pressure reducers. Firstly, set achievable objectives. Make sure that when you set your team or individual objectives that what you are asking them to do is reasonable. Avoid giving anyone an excessive workload. monitor this regularly, not just at the time of appraisal.
Secondly, distribute tasks fairly between team members. When considering who should do what within your team ensure that you are not giving anyone an unfair proportion of the overall workload. Also aim to provide a mix of interesting and varied work to reduce routine or boring work. Thirdly, set realistic timescales. Allow people enough time to carry out the work you give them. Bear in mind how long tasks take and what other priorities a person has when setting deadlines for particular pieces of work.
Finally, make priorities clear. When you ask employees to do work make clear which responsibilities or tasks are the most important. Also clarify which are the most urgent, help them to prioritize their workloads to ensure that the important things get done and that deadlines are not missed. If you follow these ideas and strategies, you will be helping yourself and your team to be positive and communicative. You can take action as and when necessary to improve issues as you have set out how you can help and how you want your team to work with you.